Income and distribution
Bernard Andrew is the lord of the South County of the Principality of Afranz, and has become a small baron thanks to the protection of his ancestors.
Although the territory is not large, it has three villages. Relying on the rent, it can lead a peaceful and prosperous life.
Until a few months ago, His Majesty the King suddenly ordered that the passage between Parnaki and the other world would be opened, and he would lead the many forces of Parnaki to attack the other world. For this reason, the nobles from all over the Kingdom of Afran need to pay him war taxes. As the king, he will also give them a gift - the nobles can choose to invest in this war. The more they give, the more they will get when the other world is conquered.
At one time, nobles of all sizes from all over the country responded, and some great nobles even donated most of their wealth.
But Bernard Andrew was a well-known miser and a coward. He didn't dare to consider the long-term interests, and the war tax alone was enough to make him feel painful. So after paying the tax with great care, he never participated in the war again, and continued to stay in his territory as a free little king.
Unexpectedly, this war that mobilized the whole world was thwarted due to the conspiracy of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and her companions. The Kingdom of Afran suffered a severe blow, and the huge losses caused many nobles to go bankrupt. On the contrary, Bernard Andrew escaped.
Although the country suddenly turned from rich to poor and even the royal rule became shaky, these things were too far away from him and Bernard Andrew had no time to pay attention to them.
He even got a rare burst of inspiration and used the war as an excuse to collect a large amount of grain from the villagers in the territory again.
Nowadays, the currency of the Kingdom of Afrain has long lost its original value, and grain is the hard currency in the trading market. As for how many villagers under his command will starve to death due to his taxation - what does it have to do with him?
As long as the land exists, people will emerge like the plants in the ground, bringing him inexhaustible wealth - his father, his grandfather, his grandfather's father... all taught the next generation this way.
These villagers were ignorant and poor, and a small bowl of bean paste could make them crawl on the ground like a dog, wagging their tails and begging for mercy, and talking about his benefits. Adding a whip could make these people loyal to him, fearful and obedient.
But the ignorance of the villagers does not mean that no one outside the territory is coveting his land and money.
——For example, this group of guys who suddenly appeared on the dead land, under the guise of building a city, blatantly snatched people from him.
According to reports from his subordinates, those guys used food to lure nearby villagers to sign a contract with them. Now all the people in the three villages in his territory have fled. Even though the agricultural officials have gone to drive them away, these fools are completely unwilling to leave. Instead, they regard those ambitious guys as good people and want to worship them.
Not to mention how someone could possibly build a city in a place where crops could not be grown, I heard that the food these guys distributed was the best wheat! Every grain was plump, and even as a lord, he might not be able to find wheat with such plump grains and rich grain aroma in his granary.
Even a king cannot be so extravagant. Who are these guys?
Bernard Andrew had no time to think about this problem. If he didn't solve it, there would really be no one left in his territory. So Bernard Andrew got on the carriage and hurriedly rushed to the place of death.
...
Dead Land: Outside the Construction Engineering Team Base
There was a sudden commotion among the people waiting in line to register.
The agricultural officer from Bernard Andrew's territory waved his whip, trying to whip the peasants at the end of the team, cursing loudly: "Who asked you to come here? Get out of here! Do you want to betray the lord?"
But before his whip could fall, it was intercepted in mid-air.
The young man with a strange outfit and a buzz cut looked at him coldly: "Who told you to do this here?"
The agricultural officer tried to pull his hand out of the man's grasp, but the man's hand was like an iron clamp, firmly holding his wrist.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel?" The agricultural officer could not pull his hand away, so he could only curse loudly: "Who gave you the courage to act wildly on the lord's territory!"
"The lord's territory?" The male knight sneered, "Is that Bernard Andre? This dead land is not his territory."
The agricultural officer's eyes widened as he had not expected the man in front of him to dare to address the lord by his name.
Commoners could call nobles by their names, and even if the other party was a knight who had been awarded merit, the nobles were entitled to execute him directly. This strict set of laws maintained the long-term stability of the Kingdom of Afran, and no one dared to challenge its majesty.
Since the man dared to address the lord by his name, it meant that he was most likely of noble birth and did not take the lord seriously at all.
If the other party is just a knight, it would be fine. But if he is a noble... the honor of the nobles is above all else. Even if he speaks rudely for the lord, as long as the other party shows his noble status, he is qualified to ask the lord to sentence him to death.
Cold sweat soaked the agricultural officer's back. He swallowed hard and spoke in a trembling voice: "This place is adjacent to the lord's territory. The lord has sent people to manage it for many years. It naturally belongs to the lord's territory."
"Since there is no land contract, this place has nothing to do with him." The man pushed the agricultural officer away and watched him stagger back a few steps. His cold expression revealed majesty: "I am now solemnly warning you for the first time. Leave our territory. If you don't listen to my advice and continue to attack people around you, I will arrest you immediately according to the laws of New City!"
The man deliberately amplified his voice so that every villager here could hear his voice in the dead silence caused by the appearance of the agricultural officer.
New Town? What is New Town?
Just when all the villagers looked puzzled, Bernard Andrew finally arrived in a carriage.
"Who are you?" With the help of the servant, Bernard Andrew rushed towards the man eagerly. The uneven ground made it very difficult for his fat body to walk, and he looked quite funny: "How dare you act so wildly in my territory!"
"Show us the land documents, otherwise you have no right to manage us." The man looked cold.
"Written document? What written document? I am the lord here, and my words are the law - tell me your identity now!" Bernard Andrew said angrily.
The man said seriously, "Captain of the Armed Police Detachment of XX District, B City, China. You can call me Officer Yan."
"Police officer?" Bernard Andre frowned. "What is this? Aren't you a noble?"
"There are no nobles in China." Officer Yan said loudly, "There will be no nobles in the new city either."
"Nonsense! Without the nobles, who will rule these untouchables?" Bernard Andrew sneered, "I thought they were someone else, but it turns out they are just a group of commoners - come here, how dare you disrespect the nobles in public and snatch people from me, behead them on the spot!"
The soldiers following Bernard Andrew drew their weapons from their waists and prepared to attack Officer Yan.
Officer Yan said sternly, "Article 32 of the Xincheng Law stipulates that anyone who arbitrarily beats others with serious circumstances; insults, intercepts, and intimidates others, forcibly seizes public or private property with serious circumstances; or stirs up trouble in public places, causing serious disorder in public places and seriously disrupting social order shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall be fined!"
"What a mess! I have never heard of any New City Law. This lord only follows the laws of my territory: anyone who insults the nobles will be killed!" Bernard Andrew said disdainfully.
"Intentional murder is an aggravated crime."
Looking at the five soldiers rushing towards him, Officer Yan did not show any panic.
These soldiers looked fierce, but in fact they had not received any systematic training and could not cause any harm to him at all.
Officer Yan dodged the soldier's knife by leaning sideways, and with a clean and neat move, he disarmed the soldier. His smooth and flowing movements made the four people following him stunned, and they hesitated for a moment in their attack.
This short pause was enough for Officer Yan to give the five men a good beating.
"Five people can't beat one person?" Bernard Andrew was furious. "All of you losers, come at me! Mage, come at me too!"
The magician standing beside Bernard Andrew immediately waved his wand and chanted a spell.
But Officer Yan took his time and pulled out a pistol from his waist.
A loud gunshot was heard, accompanied by the magician's heart-wrenching cry of pain. The staff that he had been holding tightly in his hand broke into two pieces out of thin air, and his hand was covered in blood without him knowing when.
Officer Yan pointed his gun at Bernard Andrew and said coldly, "If you move again, I will shoot you!"
A drop of cold sweat slowly slid down Bernard Andrew's forehead. He never expected that the man in front of him actually possessed such a terrible weapon that could injure people from several meters away without chanting.
"If you dare to attack me, the Kingdom of Afran will not forgive you!"
When his life was threatened, Bernard Andrew could no longer maintain his original pride and said in panic: "I am a noble! Are you going to attack nobles in the Kingdom of Afram?"
At this time, Lu Baixi, who had been standing in the base, said quietly: "Afran Kingdom? It seems that your news is late. The king of Afran was demoted to a grand duke a long time ago, and now Afran has also become a principality - don't you know?"
Rong Yu, who was following Lu Baixi, was like a shadow. He silently opened the document in his hand and took the initiative to show it to the villagers.
"The former King of the Kingdom of Afran, the current Grand Duke of Afran, Afran 132, announced that he would unconditionally submit to the anti-war alliance initiated by the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and participated by the Reltsad, Lint Republic, etc., and would build a new city in the southern dead land."
The villagers who were watching were dumbfounded by the series of changes. In their impression, the nobles who were so powerful were defeated so easily and had no power to resist. Compared with Bernard Andrew's embarrassment, the news of the king's surrender announced by Lu Baixi did not cause much shock.
For these poor villagers, whether the country surrendered or not did not matter to them. They still had to live under the rule of the nobles, and they had to endure hardships and poverty all their lives, and at most they would be transferred from one noble to another.
Compared with these, what shocked them the most was Officer Yan’s fighting ability.
A man without magic actually defeated the lord's soldiers with his bare hands? Even the magician was no match for him?
Such a powerful lord stood up and took the initiative to protect the villagers!
Even the village chief, who had seen more, couldn't believe that such a thing would happen to them.
But... New City? What on earth is this New City?
A villager couldn't help but ask this question.
The construction team standing by was waiting for this question. Someone immediately stood up and answered loudly: "Your Majesty, the Great Demon King, Your Majesty the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Your Excellency the President of the Lint Republic... After the bigwigs of various countries learned about the suffering of the people of the Kingdom of Yaflan, they decided to build a brand new city here. There is no aristocracy here, and there is a set of laws that are completely different from those of the Principality of Yaflan. Here, everyone can enjoy dignity and civil rights. Once someone infringes on their interests, they can tell the police like Officer Yan and ask them to uphold justice! This will also be an open city, and residents from the other world 'Earth' will also live here, bringing a new culture and knowledge."
——This is the reason why we distributed food with great fanfare and gathered the villagers here.
Although magic such as water mirrors can be used to transmit information more quickly, if this group of people were suddenly told that there was a place without noble leaders and where they could live freely, the villagers who were used to being exploited by the nobles would simply think that the news was false.
How could anyone leave the food uneaten and distribute it to these lowly people?
How could anyone be willing to stand up and go against the nobles for them?
How could anyone really want to treat them as human beings?
The citizens of Afraland, who had been poor and humble for too long, needed to witness it once - to see with their own eyes the nobles who had exploited them being easily defeated. This would make them realize that the nobles they feared were nothing but a group of cowardly and incompetent termites.
It also lets them know that there are people in this world who are willing to respect and protect them.
"Now you have violated the laws of Xincheng - come, take them away." Officer Yan ordered.
At this moment, the agricultural officer, who had been ignored temporarily because of Bernard Andrew’s appearance, suddenly shouted: “My Lord, these are not wheat at all!”
The agricultural officer who had sneaked to the side of the base at some point held two grains in his hands, as if he had discovered some important secret. He swore, "I have been working on the land for thirty years, and I am sure that this is not wheat at all. Such white grains can only be so sweet if they are the food of the devil! It will tempt people to lose their minds and fall into endless desires!"
"Did you hear that?" Bernard Andre was as excited as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw. "These people are devils! Poor villagers, don't be deceived by these devils..."
But before Bernard Andrew could finish his words, he was interrupted by Lu Baixi's sneer.
"You are right, these are not the grains of Parnaqui."
Lu Baixi crossed his arms and looked at Bernard Andre with a half-smile: "Because it comes from another world - Earth."
"How can we eat plants from another world?" Bernard Andrew said quickly, "These things must be poisonous!"
"Oh?" Lu Baixi raised his eyebrows. "But when your Yaflan Kingdom started the war, wasn't it because your other world was free of magical pollution and had endless food?"
"I..." Bernard Andre was at a loss for words.
Lu Baixi flipped her palm, and a bag of millet appeared in her palm out of thin air: "This is rice, produced in the country 'Huaxia' in the other world, and the minimum yield per mu can reach 700 pounds."
"Impossible!" The agricultural officer couldn't believe it. "I've never heard of a plant that produces so much grain!"
"That's because you are ignorant." Officer Yan raised his chin, unable to hide his pride, and said, "This is only the minimum yield. If we plant the hybrid rice that Yuan Gong of China has researched, let alone 700 pounds, even 1,100 pounds would be considered a low yield."
"That's right." Lu Baixi nodded, his eyes swept across the villagers' incredulous faces, and smiled, "Those who participate in the construction of the new city will have priority in obtaining the right to reside in the new city, the right to grow hybrid rice, and the planting method to increase grain production."
The villagers looked at each other and fell into a long silence.
Living with people from another world? It sounds too scary.
No one knew what the people in the other world were like... No, they had already seen it. They didn't seem to care about their status as pariahs at all, and they gave them such high-yield seeds.
As long as you stay here, you can receive and cultivate the ridiculously high grain yields, enjoy the protection of the law, and no longer need to pay a lot of taxes...
What is dignity?
They had never thought about this problem in the past, but now, they seem to understand it a little.
"I want to go to the new city!"
"I want one too!"
"Count me in!"
Hand after hand was raised high, and nearly a thousand villagers responded loudly. The warm atmosphere seemed to ignite the base.
No one noticed that Bernard Andre and his men, who were tied up tightly, were taken away from their death place quietly.
...
Bernard Andre looked at the man beside him with trepidation.
He was dressed completely different from Officer Yan before, with deep facial features, and looked like a typical Parnaki, but he was just as difficult to mess with.
He glanced back and saw that his agricultural officer, soldiers... were all tied up tightly, and they all looked dejected and miserable.
I should have known better than to come here! Even if all the villagers run away, as long as the wealth is still there, the worst that can happen is that I can run away and buy another territory to continue to be my lord.
At this moment, Bernard Andrew was filled with regret.
He looked at the increasingly remote environment around him, his heart beating wildly and uncontrollably.
Where were these people taking me? Was it the dungeon in the "new city" they mentioned?
Speaking of which, these people seem to be saying that he should be sentenced to five years?
Am I going to live in a dark dungeon for five years?
No, no... I am a lord! My family is still in the territory. If I don't go back, they will definitely go to the big city to ask those nobles for help. By then, these guys...
Before Bernard Andre's revengeful fantasy could reach its climax, the man who had been leading him forward suddenly stopped and untied his restraints in front of Bernard Andre's horrified gaze.
“You are…”
The man smiled slightly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Baron, for making you suffer so much."
At the same time, Bernard Andrew's subordinates were also untied.
Unexpectedly, he was freed after a sudden turn of events. Bernard Andrew could not help showing a look of joy: "It's good that you know!"
But the man did not respond to his words. Instead, he led the others to retreat silently, keeping a distance from Bernard Andre and the others, and revealing Lu Baixi who was standing shoulder to shoulder with them behind them.
Bernard Andre, who thought he had gained his freedom and regained his noble status, raised his chin and maintained his pride as a noble: "What are you going to do? I am a noble!"
"Of course I know." Lu Baixi walked forward slowly: "Otherwise, why do you think I brought you here?"
Lu Baixi paused and continued, "This is your territory. We only follow your laws and are not subject to the laws of the new city. You said before that anyone who insults the nobles will be killed without mercy."
"...So what?" Bernard Andrew asked warily.
"If that's the case, then it's much more convenient." Lu Baixi smiled slightly, and the next moment, her aura suddenly changed, and her black hair turned snow-white at a speed visible to the naked eye. Her eyelashes fluttered up and down, revealing scarlet pupils.
The men who came with Lu Baixi all knelt on one knee, showing respectful eyes: "Meet Her Highness Anastasia Drusilla Sangerin."
"Are you a vampire of Pylos?!" Bernard Andrew said in shock.
The Peleus Empire, one of the most powerful states in Parnaqui, borders the Principality of Avran.
On the surface, this is a country ruled by humans. But in fact, the rulers behind the Pylos Empire are the blood race, one of the three original races.
In the Pylos Empire, the vampires and humans have a symbiotic relationship. The humans provide the vampires with a constant supply of fresh blood and excellent talents, allowing the vampires to continuously expand their own tribe. The vampires, on the other hand, provide protection for the humans, keeping them from invasions from other countries and harm from monsters.
Hearing Bernard Andrew's straightforward words, the man behind Lu Baixi immediately said, "How dare you! His Highness is the Grand Duke of the Blood Clan, on the same level as you, Grand Duke Afran. How can a mere baron like you call him that?"
"No problem." Lu Baixi raised his hand to stop his subordinate from making trouble: "I always like people who 'follow the rules', especially nobles who follow the old rules of the Kingdom of Yaflan. I like them the most."
She licked her lower lip and smiled a little deeper: "So you who have offended me should follow the laws you set and accept your fate~"
He didn't even have time to utter a scream, and the surging blood became the last memory of Bernard Andrew's life.
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